The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Reporter
OVER 30 000 litres of hand sanitizer is stuck at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) as the institution is yet to have their manufacturing plant inspected by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ).
Although SAZ has reportedly cleared the actual hand sanitizer, NUST can only supply the product to the National Pharmaceuticals Company (Natpharm) after their plant has been given the greenlight of adhering to the required standards.
NUST Vice Chancellor, Professor Mqhele Dlodlo revealed that efforts to get SAZ to inspect their plant had proven fruitless, a situation which he said was hampering part of their efforts of helping the government contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“What is supposed to be happening is that we produce the hand sanitizer and supply Natpharm but without SAZ inspecting our plant this has become impossible and frustrating our production line.
“As it stands we have over 30 000 litres of hand sanitizer in our warehouse of which we are fast running out of space. We have tried to increase our personal selling points but this is not helping much.
Natpharm just needs that SAZ certificate from us before they can purchase our product,” said Prof Dlodlo.
He said on the production of face masks government had okayed their budget.
“For our face masks project, we are working with Small and Medium scale enterprises who are producing as per the specifications we give them.
“I am happy to say treasury has also okayed our budget for this project, which will obviously go a long way in our efforts of containing this Coronavirus,” said Prof Dlodlo.
